James and Diann Rose
available for purchase at the thrift
store has been donated locally and
all the proceeds go directly back to
the community. “We try to make sure
everything we sell is high-quality.” Seman went on to explain that anything
they cannot sell at the store is given to
other local charities and usually goes
overseas to assist families in thirdworld countries. “Nothing goes to
waste – everything that gets donated
gets put to good use.”
Just ask Adam Eaton, one of the
Thrift Stores employees. “The amount
of donations we get are overwhelming,” Eaton told us. Almost anything
can be donated, from food to clothing
to furniture to cosmetics and beyond.
Eaton even mentioned that they’ve
found several beautiful and original
antiques among the donations. “Some
days we get a couple bags. Other days,
it seems like someone decided to empty
their house into our back room!”
Eaton, currently a senior at Lakeland High School, decided to volunteer
at the thrift store several weeks before
it opened as a way to make the most
of his summer. “I wanted to do something that would make a difference
instead of just sit around and watching
TV all summer.” Eaton spent hours
going through donations, arranging
the shelving and overall setup of the
storefront, organizing and arranging
the merchandise on the shelves, and
making sure everything was neat and
orderly for the store’s big opening on
July 30th. “Working here has sort of
made me OCD about organization,”
Eaton admitted. Even the plastic bags
they use at the checkout counter are
donated, and Eaton said that whenever
he has a free minute he likes to organize these beneath the counter.At the
end of the summer, the ARC decided
to hire Eaton to work at the thrift
store part-time after school four days
a week, which he says has given him a
lot of valuable job experience, not to
mention a great work environment and
several new friends.
When he is not at the thrift store,
Eaton volunteers with the children’s
ministry at his church and is very active in his school, playing trumpet in
both Jazz and Concert Band, as backup
for show choir and in the pit for the
school’s musicals. He recently attended, by special invitation, the Indiana
Band Masters Association Honor Band
at DeKalb. He hopes to attend Anderson University to study Instrumental
Performance and Christian Ministries.
At a time when we need to stick together and help one another, shopping
locally is just another great way to help
your neighbors. So as the temperature
drops and the needs of the community
rise this winter, why not try a little
Christmas shopping at the ARC Thrift
Store? Or better yet, donate some of
those unused items you have laying
around the house. The thrift store will
take just about anything, and everything gets used. “You really have to stay
on your toes when you go through the
donation,” Eaton said with a smile,
“You never know what you’re going to
find!”
The Hometown Treasure · December ‘12 · pg 15